How does Wal-Mart reconcile selling live turtles in China with sustainable policy?

[Guest guest]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2007:

 

 

 

How does Wal-Mart reconcile selling live turtles in China with

" sustainable " policy?

 

BENTONVILLE, Arkansas--In October 2005, Wal-Mart chief

executive officer Lee Scott declared that as the world's largest

retail store chain, Wal-Mart has a special responsibility to be a

" good steward for the environment. " In October 2006, Newsweek

published a gruesome account of how live turtles, fish, crabs, and

clams are sold and killed to order " in the grocery section of a

Wal-Mart in north Beijing. "

In January 2007, Care for the Wild International chief

executive Barbara Maas suggested to Clifford Coonan, Beijing

correspondent for The Independent, that Wal-Mart and other retail

chains including Carrefour of France, Metro of Germany, and Tesco

of Britain should set better examples in China by not stocking

turtles and frogs.

" Tesco told us that it has commissioned research into the

stunning of turtles, with the Chinese Institute of Science and

Technology, " Maas said. " But our research has found dozens of

scientific publications that demonstrate that turtles cannot be

killed humanely for food. "

While Carrefour, Metro, and Tesco make little pretense of

being anything other than giant retailers, the Wal-Mart web

site--while saying nothing of humane values--continues to emphasize

" sustainable procurement, " including with a page about how " Wal-Mart

shoppers can now find the Marine Stewardship Council's independent

blue eco-label on ten fish products. " Wal-Mart Seafood & Deli vice

president Peter Redmond calls the labeling " an easy way for consumers

to identify seafood from fisheries that meet the MSC's strict

environmental standard. "

" How does Wal-Mart reconcile selling turtles (and frogs?) for

human consumption in your stores in China with your policy of

sustainability? " , ANIMAL PEOPLE asked, not just once but multiple

times in August and September 2007.

" Surely you are aware, " ANIMAL PEOPLE continued, " that both

turtles and frogs of all species are in global decline, due to a

combination of environmental factors and heavy human exploitation.

Surely you are also aware that turtle 'farming', " cited by Tesco as

their turtle source, " actually consists chiefly of raising turtles

to market weight in captivity after taking them from the wild, since

raising them to market weight from hatching would typically take from

five to 10 years (depending on species.)

" Surely you also know, " ANIMAL PEOPLE continued, " that the

overwhelming majority of herpetological conservationists believe that

the continuing existence of any legal trade in either turtles or

frogs will tend to keep eating them socially acceptable until many

species (especially those native to Asia) have declined past the

point of no return. "

Corporate flacks usually can give glib answers to questions

such as these, whether or not they square with reality or make

sense. But not Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart in repeated tries could not even

manage to dispatch a form letter that so much as mentioned the

company's sustainability policy.

Networking with other veteran reporters, ANIMAL PEOPLE

learned that this seems to be routine.

Former corporate ladder-climber turned environmentalist and

adventurer Peter Bray had more to say in web postings about Wal-Mart

turtle-selling in China that Wal-Mart itself did. " To the point of

Wal-Mart's decision to sell turtle meat, " Bray opined, " one has to

be concerned that legalizing these products and distributing them far

and wide will only increase consumer demand. In central China,

where turtle meat is not traditionally served, most consumers now

prod and poke and look curiously at the turtles, perhaps not sure

what to make of them. But, with Wal-Mart's discounting and

marketing and sales, we're sure to have plenty of new turtle eaters.

And that's a bad thing for wild and highly endangered turtles. "

But ANIMAL PEOPLE did discover at the Wal-Mart web site a

declaration that among the company's top three environmental goals is

to " Design and support Green Company Program in China. "

And CEO Lee Scott's personal page offered one relevant

thought about, " What are the biggest challenges for Wal-Mart as far

as environmental sustainability is concerned? "

" We've got a very long way to go, " Scott said. " Our biggest

challenge is achieving our own potential. "

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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